Economic independence

In the contemporary world economy is treated as a religion. The time has gone when the superpowers had large weapon arsenals and extensive colonies. This is the era of economic independence and self reliance. Now the nations which are economically independent, sovereign and self reliant are dominant. The story behind the success of western powers, and the developed world is their economic independence and self reliance. But unfortunately, the situation in Pakistan is totally adverse. Though Pakistan is rich in natural resources, it is very poor in the management of its resources as well, since it has been dominated by other powers. Sixty seven years have passed since the inception of the country but none of our systems has been developed properly. It is time our policy makers devised policies to benefit the country and the people. Pakistan should build its economy by enlarging its tax net and bringing the big fish into it as well as making the system transparent and evasion free.We must overcome the grave problem of water and energy crisis by tapping our own natural resources and constructing small and medium dams mostly on the natural reservoirs of the Swat, Kabul and Indus rivers. Secondly, a deteriorated law and order situation in the shape of terrorism, sectarianism and extremism has set back Pakistan in every sphere of life. The foreign policy of a country is the face it projects and a country’s progress is evident from its foreign policy. If our foreign minister is shrewd, pro-active and effective he can increase our foreign exchange reserves by implementing export laws that can benefit our country. We can very easily assume that education is the cure for all evils, and Pakistan must educate its masses in every discipline as quickly as possible. Only then can Pakistan realise the dream of economic self-reliance.ZULQARNAIN SEWAG, Jhang, March 1.